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- Doom: The Dark Ages is quite demanding on PC due to mandatory ray-traced global illumination.
- The game runs much worse than Doom Eternal, and fans believe it looks largely similar to the previous title.
- Mid-range GPUs like the RTX 3060 fail to achieve 60FPS in the title without upscaling at 1080p.
Doom: The Dark Ages has been a major hit for id Software so far, marking a new high for the franchise. Between solid reviews, impressive technical achievements, and more, the game is a triumph for the entire franchise.
The title is also id Software’s most technically advanced to date, incorporating ray-traced reflections and mandatory ray-traced global illumination. These technologies require performance sacrifices, but fans are not too happy with the loss in frame rate resulting from the new visual outlook.
Why it matters: Doom: The Dark Ages is among the many games that rely solely on ray-tracing for their lighting. This has resulted in scenarios where only two Nvidia GPUs can achieve 60FPS at maxed out native 4K gameplay.
Daniel Owens recently benchmarked Doom: The Dark Ages on an RTX 3060, highlighting the fact that the game fails to maintain 60FPS at 1080p Medium settings without relying on upscaling.
The results stand in stark contrast to Doom Eternal’s performance, which could easily achieve more than 120FPS at similar settings. Fans argue that Doom: The Dark Ages, although a step up over its predecessor, does not justify the new requirements with its visuals.
They also believe that the problem is made all the more apparent when considering the fact that visuals take a backseat in a fast-paced title like Doom. Many state that id Software should have introduced a non-ray-traced mode for those on older hardware.
The fidelity increase over performance loss compared to Doom Eternal is not there for me.
-Babytronsab
Similar comments can be found on platforms like Reddit, with some dubbing the game unoptimized.
Many have also pointed out how the game scales poorly between its different graphical presets, offering minimal frame rate improvements unless DLSS, FSR, or dynamic resolution is enabled.
Still, it should be noted that Doom: The Dark Ages runs well for how much ray-tracing it utilizes. The game even avoids falling into the trap of constant stutters observed in most AAA titles today.
What are your thoughts on the game’s optimization? Let’s discuss in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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